Health care problems continue

December 16, 2013

As many as one-fourth of the people who thought they had obtained health insurance through the government's troubled and cumbersome website, HealthCare.gov, may be "or-phans," officials confirmed last week.

That is the term federal bureaucrats have coined to describe people who enrolled for insurance through the website - but are not covered because the government never sent information on them to insurance companies.

Even now, with the website allegedly repaired - at least according to the White House - as many as one in 10 people who enroll may be victimized by the same ongoing problem.

A private insurance company operating a similar program would be shut down by the government for failing to meet the needs of its customers. In all likelihood, its executives would be prosecuted for fraud.

But President Barack Obama's administration can get away with what amounts to fraud because he says so.

Obamacare has become more than a mistake. Congress needs to shut this scheme down.